BJP Will Fight Congress' Tughlaqi Decrees Through Signature Campaign: Jai Ram Thakur

Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said that the BJP will fight hard against the state Congress government's "Tughlaqi" orders of closing down of several institutions started under his dispensation.

A continuous process of closure of hundreds of institutions opened by the previous BJP government for "public welfare" is underway and the BJP will restore these institutions with the help of the public through a signature campaign, he asserted. Addressing the State Working Committee, he said that BJP lost the previous state election by a margin of 0.9 per cent, and that this was the first ever time in the state's history that a government was formed on the back of such a slim margin. "It will not last long."  

Highlighting the previous BJP governments works, he said they were successful in getting the state a Bulk Pharma park, a medical device park, AIIMS, medical colleges, and also managed to construct 5,000 km of roads. He said that between 2007 and 2012 when Prem Kumar Dhumal was the Chief Minister, the BJP government took a loan of Rs 6,700 crore while during the regime of Congress government from 2012 to 2017, a loan of 13,000 crores was taken which was almost double.

Thakur said that the current Congress government has taken a loan of 2,500 crores in the past two months. The Congress government is also planning to discontinue the Himcare scheme and efforts are being made to close the "best schemes" such as Ayushman Bharat, which has benefited lakhs of people of the state, he said. The party will now allow it to be shut down, he added.

Prem Kumar Dhumal, another former state Chief Minister from BJP,  termed the Congress government as a "government of waiting" and said that people were waiting for the fulfilment of the announcements made by the Congress party in the run up to the assembly polls.